![Refugees gather at a makeshift camp near Kibati, 12 km north of the provincial capital of Goma, October 29, 2008 [REUTERS/Stringer, courtesy www.alertnet.org]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/dr-congo/images/refugees-who-fled-fighting/934156-2-eng-GB/refugees-who-fled-fighting_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![CAFOD supported communities with seeds, tools and training to help local people move home and reintegrate in Northern Uganda [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/uganda/images/move-home-and-reintegrate/945382-1-eng-GB/move-home-and-reintegrate_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![More than 700 campaigners rallied before delivering anti-poverty messages to every EU embassy in London [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/media_folder/cafod/images/campaign_images/trade_justice_campaign_images/embassy_bus/199633-2-eng-GB/embassy_bus_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![Fatna (right) brings home wood that she and some neighbours have harvested from outside the camp in Kubum, south Darfur [Paul Jeffery/ACT/Caritas]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/where-we-work/sudan/images/fatna-right-brings-home-wood/247664-2-eng-GB/fatna-right-brings-home-wood_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
![Niccollette and Shrirvanie film the aftermath of the Guyanan floods, with support from CAFOD partner Guyana Human Rights Association [CAFOD]](/var/storage/images/about-cafod/what-we-do/communications/images/after-guyana-floods/679742-1-eng-GB/after-guyana-floods_0column50_04space_landscape.jpg)
Harvesting hope in Brazil
![Rosilda dos Santos has been able to set up her own small shop with the proceeds of a CAFOD-supported vegetable garden [Marcella Haddad]](/var/storage/images/media/cafod/images/latin_america_caribbean/brazil/had24425/5167-1-eng-GB/had24425_medium.jpg)
Rosilda dos Santos has been able to set up a small shop with the proceeds of a CAFOD-supported vegetable garden
Rosilda began her working life aged eleven, when her family sent her to the nearest city to become a live-in maid.
Life in the rural North-East of Brazil has been a constant struggle ever since.
Rosilda's husband earns very little money as a car mechanic, and until recently the 37-year-old mother-of-two had no earnings of her own.
Independence brings pride
I am really proud that I can buy clothes and shoes when I need to and look after the children
She became involved with a community health initiative – the North East Centre for Popular Medicine – to find out how to prepare nutritious meals for her family.
Pretty soon she was learning how to plant and tend vegetables in a community garden too.
Rosilda began selling produce from the garden together with half a dozen other women. With the first money she earned, Rosilda bought some popcorn to sell.
She has been able to save up enough money to set up a small shop in front of her home that stocks popcorn and many other things besides.
"I don't depend on my husband for money," she says. "I am really proud that I can buy clothes and shoes when I need to and look after the children.
"Now I have my own money, life is much better. I thank God for giving me strength. Without the project, I wouldn't have been able to realise my dream."
Send YOUR Advent message of support to kids at a special school run by a CAFOD partner - you really will make a difference to many children's lives this Christmas |
Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land - plus send a personal message of solidarity to the people of Macambol |
Browse our new range of alternative gifts that act as two presents in one – something for you to give to friends or a relative, while the real gift changes the life of someone living in poverty |
